Justin is a creative person struggling with the evidence that his life is not working. He has no regular source of income, no girlfriend, and nothing to show for his years in LA. He has so many talents he can’t figure out his direction so he keeps starting over, creating plenty of drama. When I [...]
When pent-up emotional trauma gets released in psychotherapy, it’s a giant upheaval to the entire system – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The release changes lives for the better, of course. All that secret, shameful, repressed garbage can finally be put out with the trash. A deep sense of relief and of lightness follows from [...]
The allure of a permanent state of happiness – imagining the possibility is an essential part of being human. We dream that if we do the right things or have it all, we’ll achieve the pain-free, permanently happy life that we imagine celebrities or the super rich have. Advertising promotes the fantasy that happiness can [...]
“Why didn’t I say something? I was so stupid! Why didn’t I stop the abuse?” Allison is crying as she recounts a painful memory that affects the way she relates to men in the present. Often, my patients who are involved in processing painful wounds from childhood have trouble forgiving themselves. They feel they should [...]
Once when I was a little girl, my father said to me, “Stop crying. You’re too smart to have feelings.” He was my perfect dad (until adolescence anyway) so it seemed he must be right. He never stopped trying to get everyone in the house, my mother, my brother, my sisters and me, to stop [...]
